worship when he “identified the busy show of activity in the liturgy with Martha and
the devotional life of “heart religion” with Mary.^129
Sensitive to the experimental emphasis upon heart religion Ambrose declares
that personal experiences with God are not to be kept silent or restricted for personal
growth. Rather they are to be freely shared to encourage others in their spiritual
pilgrimage. In his introduction to spiritual conferences Ambrose declares this
principle, “[t]he Christian that hath collected experiences, or found out methods, for
the advancement of holiness, must not deny such knowledge to the body; Christians
must drive an open and free trade, they must teach one another the mystery of
godliness.”^130 Shortly later in the same work, Ambrose provides the motivation and
encouragement for this spiritual sharing, “[w]ould Christians thus meet and exchange
words and notions, they might build up one another, they might heat and inflame one
another, they might strengthen and encourage one another, as the brethren did Paul:
and have we not an express Command for this Duty of Conference?”^131
Knappen asserts “[c]onferences with fellow Christians on spiritual matters
were a very important part of the Puritan’s spiritual life.”^132 While these meetings
often included more than one person they could also refer to one-on-one spiritual
counsel. Ambrose used the term specifically in this manner, as did other Puritans of
his day.^133 The following reference could be directed to both individuals and groups,
(^129) Hambrick-Stowe, (^) Practice of Piety (^) , 43.
(^130) Ambrose, Media (1657), 339.
(^131) Ambrose, Media (1657), 344. Tom Webster provides the best descriptive
treatment of the nature and usage of conferences. 132 Godly Clergy, 36-59.
133 Knappen, Two Elizabethan Puritan Diaries, 8, cf. vii, 84.^
see Hambrick Ambrose, Communion with Angels-Stowe, Practice of Piety, 13, 1503. For a helpful overview to conferences -5 and Schwanda, “Growing in Christ,”